Textual Beings

Lane defines pretext as that unit which is rudimentary to the book but which isnot yet readable as a text. While initially we can say that reading or viewingsomething in terms of pretext is not useful since. What good are all of theseletters if they are not conjoined together into some larger meaning? However,Lane makes a valid point in stating that the more one grounds her self inpretext the more secure the formation will be when one moves up to textualunderstanding because there will be less confusion of word or sentenceformation. A strong vocabulary, a high level of comfort with reading in generaland a knowledge of the fundamentals of reading comprehension are all importantin order to be able to take the next step to textual understanding. Textualunderstanding is the larger complex which words, sentences and paragraphsdevelop. There are times, in this class especially, when I feel like some words,even some concepts, go over my head. However, I consider myself to be a goodreader with a decent vocabulary and above average comprehensive skills. So byreading the whole book, paper, article, etc. I can generally grasp the main ideaand step away knowing/understanding more than I thought I had, and even beingable to go back and say, Oh I get it now. Similar to the first time one watchesthe Sixth Sense, not in the intellectual sense but in the sense that therevelation that comes at the end almost compels the viewer to watch it again tobe able to pick up on the clues earlier and see if anything was there that wedid not see the first time that would have made the conclusion more obvious. Byreading the text we can get a fairly decent sense of what the author is tryingto convey. However, there are certain things around and beyond the text whichare necessary for better comprehension. This is referred to as context. Contextis the larger arena by which any text, formed by any pretext is understood. Inanalyzing a book or argument we cannot simply look at any of these partsindependently of the others. We must have an understanding of each aspect andits role in the process of analysis and comprehension.